


No One Left Behind

by Goddess47



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-22 01:38:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11369871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goddess47/pseuds/Goddess47
Summary: SG-14 disappears on a routine mission to a supposedly friendly planet. SG-1 goes to find them.





	No One Left Behind

**Author's Note:**

> For the 2017 Reverse Bang...
> 
> Go tell Carlyn7865 what a lovely wallpaper she created for me to work from...
> 
> Many thanks to Fenchurch and Brumeier for speedy beta work at the last minute!

  
[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/145017330@N04/35191382840/in/dateposted-public/)  
  


 

The Stargate shimmered in the room... an open door to a world that may have swallowed SG-14. Not following was not a choice... no one got left behind.

"MALP is clear," Walter reported. A pause while the robot trundled through the Gate. "Arrived on the other side. No sign of activity near the gate, and no radio signals."

"SG-1, you have a go!" General Hammond's voice echoed over the speakers to the Gate Room. "Bring them home safe."

"Okay, kids," Jack O'Neill waved an arm at his team. "You heard the man, let's go!"

Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c checked -- again -- that their weapons were ready. Sam and Teal'c took point through the Gate and immediately stepped to the side, to provide cover if needed. After a ten-count, Jack and Daniel came through, moving automatically near their team mates.

"Clear!" Sam called, scanning the surrounding area.

"I also see no one," Teal'c agreed.

"We're clear," Jack reported back to the SGC. "SG-1 out." The worm hole winked shut behind them. 

Daniel took out the controls to the MALP and moved it further away from the Gate platform, closer to a small outcropping of rocks. It was the only protected space, skimpy as it was, near the Gate.

"Send up the drone, Daniel," Jack commanded, alertly scanning the surrounding area.

The area around the Gate was an open, grassy field. Immediately in front the Gate and down a path to a dirt -- 'road' was maybe too generous a term -- but it was more than a path, the grass was heavily trampled, evidence of regular traffic through this Gate. Beyond the Gate, green grasses speckled with a riot of orange and yellow wild flowers grew thigh high, capable of hiding any number of animals or people.

The line of thick, green trees started about two hundred feet from the Gate. Low bushes outlined the open space, but the trees stood immediately behind them. The open path for the road cut a swath through the forest. Ruts in the dirt acknowledged wheeled travel, but the ruts were narrow, which indicated carts or wagons -- nothing mechanical traveled this way regularly. 

Daniel unhooked the drone from the MALP and took out the remote immediately underneath it. He powered up the machine.

"Ready?" Daniel called.

"Go ahead!" Jack commanded.

The drone lifted off from the ground and moved slowly into the sky.

"Carter, make sure we have everything we need, and send the MALP back," Jack continued, as he watched the drone move upwards. 

Sam and Teal'c had already been in motion, removing additional packs of gear and weapons from the MALP. She started the dialing for the Gate as Teal'c assisted by turning the MALP around, to speed up the return process. While the MALP could be turned using its remote, it was more practical to manually turn it in the direction they wanted it to go.

"I am ready," Teal'c announced.

Sam pressed the activation for the Gate. When the puddle settled down, she touched her comm as she sent the signal to verify it was them. "Stargate Command, sending MALP back to you."

"Identification received!" Walter acknowledged. "The iris is open, you are clear to send the MALP back to us."

Teal'c guided the MALP back up the small ramp to the Gate and it disappeared with a small 'pop.'

"MALP has arrived successfully," Walter confirmed. "Good luck with your mission."

"Copy that," Sam replied. "And thanks."

With that, the Gate shut down. Teal'c took three of the packs and moved toward the tree line away from the road. Sam picked up the other two packs and followed. There was no hiding place near the Gate, so moving away from the Gate and the road were the only reasonable option they had.

Teal'c identified a thicket of bushes behind a row of bright orange flowers that had a small cavity near the roots. The brush would hide the packs from visual inspection but they would be accessible in case of an emergency. They eased through the flowers to try to not disturb the growth.

They took a slightly different path back to the Gate area, having to rely on the springy, growing grass to hide their tracks. A skilled tracker would easily follow their path, so they had to hope for the best.

"All set," Sam reported as they joined Jack and Daniel at the rock outcropping near the Gate.

"Daniel's found the village, and we don't see anything that looks amiss," Jack said.

Teal'c looked over Jack's shoulder at the secondary display in his hands. Daniel was focused on flying the drone at a height where it might be mistaken for a bird.

"The villagers do not seem to be alarmed," Teal'c agreed. "While not conclusive, I see no evidence of Goa'uld or Jaffa."

"That's what _I_ thought," Jack said.

Sam leaned in for a look. "Although, that looks like fewer villagers than had been reported initially." She focused for a moment. "Mostly children and older people."

Jack looked closer. "Huh. That's right. Wonder where everyone is."

"If there was any danger, the villagers would not allow small children to roam about freely," Teal'c suggested.

"True!" Jack said. He looked around at his team. "Any reason not to check it out?"

"Not that I can see," Sam replied.

"Okay, then. Let's go for a walk!" Jack said. "Daniel, bring the drone back this way and we'll plan to pick it up on our way back. We don't want just anyone picking it up. If we lose this one, I'm going to make you do the paperwork."

"I always do that paperwork!" Daniel protested. 

"Well, you've done such a good job of it, I'll let you keep doing it." Jack clapped Daniel on the shoulder.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Thanks a lot!"

Sam hid a grin as Daniel maneuvered the drone back toward them.

It was actually a nice day for a walk. The sky was clear and the road was relatively flat, with only some gradual up and down as they walked to the village. Since the village was almost five miles from the Gate, it took them just over an hour to cover the distance. Jack opted for a fast but not too strenuous pace, which would allow them to arrive quickly without tiring themselves. Not seeing an immediate cause for alarm from the drone images, Jack decided discretion would be better. 

Near the village, they slowed their pace and went on full alert.

"We need to get those drones to be able to drop mics or something," Jack suggested. "That way, we could hear if anything was going on."

"Maybe I can rig something up," Sam volunteered. "General Hammond is already complaining about the cost of drones, so any modifications need to be simple."

"Teal'c, Daniel, you take point," Jack ordered. "Sam, keep an eye out."

Jack watched as Teal'c and Daniel approached the elderly villager who seemed to be doing some type of craft work as she sat in front of the home. She broke out into a smile as she caught sight of the two.

"Welcome!" she greeted them. "Are you friends of EssGeeFurten?"

"SG 14?" Daniel repeated. "Yes. We are here looking for them. Do you know where they are?"

She laughed. "They are probably still asleep... like the rest of my friends!"

Daniel frowned. "Asleep?"

She nodded, giving a knowing smile. "Yesterday was _Akinsa_ \-- the festival of the Moons! Much celebrating and food!" She winked at them. "And much drink!"

Jack pinched his nose and sighed. He said to Sam, "Keep an eye out, but sounds like SG-14 got tied up in a _festival_."

_Festival_ was the term they had come to use in reports to cover for the more extreme, but relatively benign, events off world. Ones that SG teams couldn't easily escape from and had to participate in. Most of them were drunken parties, but there was the occasional orgy. As a result, male and female soldiers were issued condoms as part of any off-world kit. Soldiers could declare that a team mate was also their 'mate' -- there were some worlds where 'no' did not always mean 'no' -- but being 'mated' frequently allowed the pair to gracefully opt out. Jack had been 'mated' with each of his team mates on various occasions. 

Just then a man in BDUs stumbled out of a low building off to their left. He looked at SG-1 and his eyes got wide. He threw a quick thumb’s up in their direction, then scurried around to the back of the building.

"Festival." Sam confirmed.

"They couldn't have sent a message?" Jack whined.

Sam shrugged. "Never know how that sort of thing starts," she commented. "Sometimes it's a simple dinner and then..."

"Yeah, been there, done that," Jack sighed. Almost every SG team had ended up in that situation over time.

"Jack... there's a temple..." Daniel started.

"Yeah, go. Take Teal'c," Jack waved a hand at him. "Nothing to do for a bit, otherwise. Don't go far, and be ready to leave in a couple of hours."

"Thanks!" Daniel replied cheerfully.

"Would you like some food?" The woman had set aside her work and stepped over to talk with Jack and Sam.

"Colonel?" Sam asked.

Jack shrugged. "Sure. We'd love some breakfast!" It would give them something to do until SG-14 came up for air. Everything seemed calm, and there was no sense in trying to move hung-over soldiers along.

The woman -- Macia, she introduced herself -- sat them at an outside table. "Sit. I bring food for you!" She cheerfully went into the house.

Bread, fruit and cheese soon appeared on the table, along with hot water for whatever made up the local variation of tea. Sam poked through the dishes and took a sip of the tea. "Seems good."

"Thanks!" Jack replied. Even on safe worlds, one team member usually sampled the food before the others. It was safer -- although not for the person doing the tasting -- to have one person down with food poisoning rather than the entire team. He took some of everything, more to be polite than because he was hungry. He nibbled on the fruit and took a swallow of the tea.

"You were in a bed of _caram_ flowers," Macia said. "You will want to wash that off."

"Caram flowers?" Sam asked.

Macia pointed to Sam's pants. "I can see remnants on your pants. The flowers can be potent."

Jack looked down to see bright orange pollen dotting the legs of Sam's BDU's. "Potent?" He frowned.

"Some only sneeze, but others have a strong reaction to the flowers," Macia replied. "A few have to be set apart if they have been in contact with the flowers."

"Isolation?" Sam frowned. "Allergies, maybe?"

Macia shrugged. "Setting apart rarely is needed, but some become ill from the contact."

Sam reached down to brush off the pollen, but Macia grabbed her hand. "Do not let it touch you! It is stronger when it touches your skin."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Damn, with our luck it's a stupid _sex pollen_!"

"Don't laugh," Sam pointed at him. "That was not fun!"

"We'll have to do a full decontamination when we get back," Jack said. "No telling where it's ended up."

"We put our... supplies near that bed of flowers," Sam said softly. "No getting away from it."

Jack nodded acknowledgement of that information. 

"Just adds joy to the day," Jack replied dryly, drinking his tea.

"This tea is very good." Sam turned to Macia. "What is it made from?"

Jack tuned out the discussion of grasses and herbs -- he really didn't want to know -- and looked around. More villagers had started to stir, a number of them heading to what must have been the privy around the back side of the village. 

The soldier they had seen earlier must have roused his team mates -- the others struggled out of the building, straightening rumpled clothes, and shouldering their packs.

"Major Matias!" Jack cheerfully greeted the leader of SG-14. "Got caught up in a festival?"

Matias nodded abrupt agreement, then looked green -- greener. "Sorry, sir." He dropped his pack and hurried off to the privy.

"Take your time, gentlemen," Jack said genially to the others. "Daniel's gone off to survey the temple, and we have another couple of hours before we need to check in."

"My apologies, sir. MacFarland and I were supposed to report in last night but, well... festival. It started out as just dinner and the 'salute to the moon' packed a punch we didn't see coming." Lieutenant Liu reported, woefully. 

"As long as everyone's safe, that's the most important part," Sam soothed. Then grinned. "But now you owe us one."

The entire team groaned. 'Owing one' to SG-1 was not a good place to be. It mostly meant doing grunt work for Sam and Daniel in the labs, but there was a certain amount of teasing that always went with it.

Jack let SG-14 get themselves together, although they all refused breakfast, looking faintly nauseated at the thought of food. That also allowed him to let Daniel have his allotted time in the temple, before he called, "Time to go home!"

"Yes, sir!" Major Matias said. Jack knew he was a good leader and that he wouldn't get a formal reprimand for their misadventure. Although Hammond would give them some not-nice assignments for their next off-world trip. Watching Daniel -- or one of his minions -- geek out over yet another temple -- or even worse, a midden -- was somewhat like watching paint dry. 

"Carter, Liu, go get Daniel," Jack ordered. Even on a relatively friendly planet, no one went anywhere alone. And Carter would be able to help Daniel with finishing up whatever he was doing.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Sam looked at Lt. Liu and asked, "You okay?"

Liu shrugged. "It's not far, I'll be fine." 

Liu had recovered better than his team mates, Sam realized. Either he had a better tolerance for whatever was in the 'salute to the moon' or he didn't imbibe as much as the others.

"Ma'am?" Liu asked cautiously. "May I ask some... off the record questions?"

"Sure." Sam replied. "Well, I'll reserve the right to not answer some things."

"Well, I feel like such an idiot," he sighed. "I was supposed to report in last night and didn't. And then General Hammond sent you to, well, rescue us."

Sam grinned. "We've all pretty much been there," she replied. "And SG-1 has been on that end of the equation a lot. Folk have been sent out to rescue us, regularly."

"But... you guys are usually saving Earth from being vaporized, or over run by Goa'uld or something important!" Liu protested.

Sam laughed. "Oh, there have plenty of other missions, just like this one, where we've been the ones being rescued from a 'festival' or something equally benign. You've only been on an SG team for, what, four months?"

Liu nodded.

"Give it another year and you'll be the ones rescuing us from some local festival or something equally embarrassing," Sam reassured him.

"If you say so," Liu replied, frowning.

The local 'temple' was more of a pavilion -- rock pillars held up a wooden roof and the sides were open. There was a structure in the center that could be considered an altar. The pillars had ivy climbing them but the roof looked solid and the ground under the roof was cleared away. Compared to other temples they explored over time, this was relatively simple and decidedly not very old.

"Ah! Daniel! Teal'c!" Sam called. "Jack's ready to go home. You done here?"

"Sam! Come and look at this!" Daniel called from the base of the one of the pillars.

Sam groaned to herself. Daniel was in a bed of caram flowers. "Watch out for those flowers, Daniel. They're supposed to be potent."

She saw Daniel look around absently and push aside a growth of them to point to the base of the pillar. 

"See this? These marks on the footer look like machine work, but the reports on this planet don't support anything like that!" Daniel frowned. "They're pretty pre-industrial and machinery at this level doesn't exist here."

"I can help with that!" Liu offered. "The locals travel through the Gate regularly and trade for services they can't do on their own. They haven't developed machinery at that level, but they appreciate what it can do for them. There's a good chance they hired that work out and whoever did it took their tools with them. Or they commissioned the work done elsewhere and carted the stone here." He looked closer at the base. "Probably someone came here, although I can see the locals requesting delivery and whomever it was took their vehicles with them."

"That's why you're here, then," Sam added. "Most societies are pretty insular and finding someone open minded enough to take advantage of what they can get off world is unique."

"Exactly!" Liu agreed. "They are curious about what we have, especially our weapons, but they are more interested in how we could help them than anything."

"What did you help them with?" Sam asked.

"There was a dangerous animal that was roaming around the settlement," Liu said. "We helped them track it. It was huge, must have been over four hundred pounds. Turns out the damn thing has a form of body armor, it took several head shots before we could kill it for them."

"Good eating?" Sam grinned.

"That's what started the festival," Liu admitted.

"You did a good deed and they repaid it the best way they could," Daniel added.

Liu nodded. "That's it."

"Okay, that explains a lot," Daniel replied. He stood and started to brush himself off.

Sam caught one hand after Daniel had started. "Skin contact supposedly makes it worse!"

Daniel looked down at himself. "I suspect it's way too late for that."

"We'll have to clean up properly, back at the SGC. Time to go," Sam prompted.

"I am ready," Teal'c added. "There has been nothing to report while we were here."

"Good to know," Sam grinned. 

Daniel sneezed as they walked back to the village.

~*~*~*~*~*~

By the time they got back, Daniel was sneezing regularly. Jack could see he was covered in orange dots.

"Temple was buried in caram flowers," Sam reports. "Daniel, umm, fell in."

"He deliberately crawled among the flowers, searching the base of the pillars for information," Teal'c said with a frown. "I reminded him of his allergy, but he chose to ignore me."

Daniel sneezed. Three times in a row. "I'll be fine. Just need to wash up." He sneezed again.

"Liu, take Daniel to what passes as a washroom, so he can get the first layer off," Jack ordered.

They returned shortly, but Daniel was still thoroughly covered. "We'll get you back and let the Doc fix you up," Jack decided. If this stuff was as potent as Macia warned, Daniel was facing a full decontamination when they got back.

"Okay." Daniel sneezed.

SG-14 was ready to go at that point, so Matias and Carter said their good-byes to both Macia as well as the two townsmen who had finally come up for air. They didn't look much better than SG-14, which made Jack wonder about how potent the drink had been. He decided he really didn't want to know, he was getting too old for that sort of thing.

Daniel sneezed all the way back to the Gate, and started walking slightly slower.

Jack turned to Teal'c. "Keep an eye on Daniel? Looks like that flower thing is hitting him harder than he thought."

"I will, O'Neill." Teal'c promised with a nod. He moved to walk next to Daniel. Fortunately, the path was more than wide enough to allow them to walk two-abreast.

Jack let SG-14 take point, and he and Carter brought up the rear. With Daniel moving slower, it took them longer to reach the Gate. Daniel was in poor shape by the time they reached the clearing.

"Matias, dial the Gate!" Jack ordered, allowing Daniel a chance to sit for a minute. "Teal'c, don't wait for our weapon's cache, get Daniel through and into the infirmary."

"I will!" Teal'c replied. "Come, Daniel Jackson. You are in need of assistance."

Daniel sneezed, then nodded wearily. 

"Carter, you hid the things, get our stuff," Jack said. "Take Liu and MacFarland with you. I have Teal'c getting Daniel through the Gate."

"Got it!" Sam agreed. "This way." She pointed at the tree line.

"And stay out of those damned flowers!" Jack called.

"We'll do our best!" Sam replied. "Matias, get the drone that should be near the gate!"

Since it was just the edge of the field, Sam and the others had the unused equipment back to the Gate not long after Teal'c and Daniel had disappeared through the Gate with a soft 'pop.'

The three came back dotted with orange pollen. 

"It's like they've doubled in size since we were here! It's only been a few hours!" Sam complained. "There was no way to get our gear without getting covered in this stuff." She held up the duffle bags. "And the bags are covered with it also."

Jack groaned. "This is not going to be good," Jack predicted. "Just wait."

"I know!" She agreed with a grimace. "Janet's going to put us through the wringer."

"We got everything?" Jack asked.

"Yes, sir!" Liu replied. Matias had the case with the drone in his hands.

"Let's go home!" Jack said. He let the others go ahead of him, so he could bring up the rear.

As he came through the wormhole, Jack stumbled over something soft under his feet and ended up on his rear on the grating in front of the Gate. The Gate shut down behind him.

"Colonel O'Neill! Are you all right?" Hammond asked over the speakers.

"For crying out loud!" Jack grumped. "What was that?"

SG-1 hurried to help Jack.

"Liu stumbled as he came through the Gate," Carter explained. "He dropped the bag he was carrying, and you came through before we could get it."

"Sorry, sir!" Liu hastened to remove the offending bag. 

Jack waved him off. "Just... Teal'c get Danny to the infirmary."

"Come along Daniel Jackson." Teal'c pulled Daniel to his feet and away from Jack. "You are in need of the doctor."

"You okay, Jack?" Daniel sniffled.

"Go. I'll be fine." Jack waved Daniel off.

At the base of the ramp, Daniel stumbled slightly. 

"Stay here." Teal'c commanded. "I will seek assistance."

"I can..." Then Daniel sneezed multiple times. Hard. "Okay, maybe I can wait here," he said weakly. Teal'c helped him to sit down on the ramp. 

"Rest for a moment," Teal'c said.

"General Hammond. Hate to say it," Jack raised his voice, "but we need to treat this stuff like a bio hazard. Everyone needs full decontamination."

"Understood." Hammond's voice came over the comm. "Is anyone hurt?"

"Just my pride," Jack said. "No, we're fine. I think Daniel needs to be looked at first. Doc and her people can take their time."

"Good to know," Hammond replied. "Good job, SG-1."

Jack waved a hand. "Festival, sir. Nothing more than that."

"Ah! Also good to know," Hammond replied. "I will look forward to the mission reports."

"So will I," Jack muttered to himself. He lay back on the ramp and closed his eyes.

It really wasn't that long before Janet Fraser came into the Gate room. She and her assistants were dressed in the awkward but useful bright yellow haz-mat suits.

"What do we have?" she asked.

Jack heard Sam brief Janet on the caram flower pollen. Sam pointed to her pants and passed on the warning about skin contact.

"We're pretty much covered in the pollen," Sam elaborated. "Daniel seems to be the worst, with his allergies, but no telling what is going to happen to anyone else."

"Okay, yes, full decontamination for everyone," Janet ordered. "Since no one seems to be seriously hurt, showers first and then into isolation rooms. I'll get samples off your clothes and see what we can find."

"I will help Daniel," Teal'c announced. "He seems to be the one most affected by the caram flowers, and my symbiote should protect me from any symptoms."

Teal'c helped Daniel stand long enough to move to a gurney, and two medics wheeled him out of the Gate room. Teal'c followed.

Jack let Sam and Janet triage SG-14 as he lay back on the ramp. He heard Sam say _festival_ to Janet, who had dealt with many variations of that over time. 

"And how are you?" Janet asked, now close to Jack. 

Jack opened his eyes, to see the worry in Janet's. "I'm fine," he waved. "I figured since I was comfortable and all, I'd just stay out of the way."

"Which is not like you." Janet frowned. "I'm suspecting you’re reacting differently to the flowers than Daniel. Are you sleepy?"

Jack considered. "I could nap."

"You're lying in what was tracked through the Gate, sir," Sam pointed out. "That's as bad as Daniel crawling around in the bed of flowers."

"Okay. Let's get you cleaned up and, hopefully, sleeping it off will be the best option." Jack saw Janet wave an orderly in their direction. Jack struggled to sit up and was wearily startled when it took both orderlies to help him onto the gurney.

The next Jack knew, he was in a bed in an isolation room. The lights were dim, so Jack figured it was probably night time. He could hear the beep of a heart monitor and he had an IV in one arm. Twisting slightly to see the bag, he realized it was mostly for hydration. 

There was a call button by his hand, so he pressed it.

It wasn't long before Janet came into the room.

"Hey, Doc, you didn't have to stay," Jack protested.

"I didn't." She flashed a small grin. "You've been out for over twenty-four hours."

"Whoa." 

"Yes, you did have us worried for a moment, but everything's fine at this point," Janet assured him.

"Why am I still in isolation, then?" Jack asked.

"You were settled in, and there was no need to move you," Janet said calmly. 

"How's Daniel?" Jack asked.

"He's almost ready to be released," Janet replied. "The pollen was particularly virulent and it took several rounds of antihistamines to relieve his symptoms."

"When can I get out of here?" Jack wanted to know.

"Tomorrow, at the soonest," Janet said. "First of all, you've just woken up and I want to keep an eye on you. We don't really know why you were unconscious for so long. I can't find anything wrong, and your vitals are looking better, but I want another round of blood tests before I let you go."

Jack sighed. "Okay. I guess." He lay back on the pillow. "Can I have visitors?"

Janet nodded. "No problem. In fact, Sam wanted to be notified when you were conscious again. She should be here shortly."

"How is Teal'c?" Jack asked.

"Daniel took the worst of it, since the pollen triggered his allergies, but Teal'c has an interesting skin reaction to the pollen that his symbiote seems to be struggling with," Janet reported. "I have him in another isolation room, mostly so he can meditate without being interrupted."

"The others?" Jack asked.

"SG-14 had minor reactions to the flower pollen," Janet replied. "None of them had anywhere near the reactions you and Daniel did. We're working on the theory that the local alcohol works as an inhibitor, preventing -- or at least mitigating -- reaction to the pollen."

"Makes as much sense as anything," Jack admitted. 

"Sir!" Sam strolled into the room. "Good to see you awake!"

"What's going on?" Jack asked.

"It was a good thing we went through decontamination as we came back," Sam reported. "Everyone's been ill on varying levels, so we've put a note in the database for a careful return visit, at a different time of the year. There have been other visits, and no one's reported any problem before. So, we're confident that it's the caram flowers, and the need to be careful about trying not to visit when they are in bloom. Or at least avoiding contact."

"Sounds like a plan," Jack agreed.

"We have several botanists researching the pollen," Sam went on. "We certainly brought plenty back with us, so they have a good sample to work with."

"Anything else?" Jack asked.

"Teal'c is still in isolation, and I've hesitated to disturb him." Sam frowned. "I was going to wait until morning to see how he's doing, since Janet's monitoring him from outside the room."

"Keep an eye on him," Jack ordered. "And Daniel."

"Will do!" Sam agreed.

"And you will now get some rest," Janet declared. "Everyone will be fine."

Jack was about to protest, then ruined his own chances of escaping by yawning. 

Janet pointed a finger at him. "See? Go back to sleep."

"Okay, okay," Jack murmured.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Janet?" Daniel asked. "How's Jack doing?"

"He was awake a couple of hours ago, and I'm letting him sleep it out," she admitted. 

"He's a better patient when he's not conscious," Daniel teased.

"Something like that!" she agreed with a small laugh.

"Wonder what caused him to react so badly to that pollen?" Daniel mused. "I'm the one with the allergies!"

Janet shrugged. "There's a team working on that," she replied. "We're wondering if his exposure to the Ancient database triggered something in him that caused the reaction. We did a lot of work when he came back from that, but there's so much we could have missed."

"And Sam?" Daniel went on."

Janet shrugged. "She came through the best of all of you, even SG-14. Once she got through decontamination, she was fine. So that gives us something else to look at."

"If there's anything I can do..." Daniel offered.

"You'll be the first to know!" Janet promised.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

"Teal'c! How are you?" Jack asked. 

"I am better, O'Neill. And you?" he replied.

"Doing good! Thanks!" Jack grinned. "How's Junior?"

"My symbiote seems to be fine," Teal'c reported. "I was temporarily unwell when we returned, but Doctor Frasier was able to provide an environment where I could experience a session of kel'no'reem that was useful in restoring the balance."

"You look a little rough around the edges," Jack asked. He waved a hand at his own face to indicate what he was referring to.

"Evidently, the exposure to the caram flowers also triggered a reaction on my skin," Teal'c elaborated. "The flowers must be unique to that planet, and my symbiote was slower in protecting me from the irritation. I should be in full health by the end of the day."

"Not used to seeing you look ill," Jack said. "Junior usually takes good care of you."

"I am not used to feeling ill," Teal'c admitted. "I will be glad to return to good health soon."

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The briefing room was full, with both SG-1 and SG-14 in attendance. 

"I'd like an update, please," General Hammond asked as he sat at the head of the table.

"The planet continues to be friendly," Matias reported. "The celebration after we helped them kill the animal was pretty spontaneous. It was a standard celebration feast until someone suggested the 'salute to the Moon' ceremony. Since it really was a full moon, two of them in fact, it didn't seem to be anything to be worried about."

"Go on," Hammond encouraged.

"Well, the drink delivered an unexpected punch and it wasn't long before we were all under the influence," Matias continued. "Since we were in what I considered a safe environment, I decided it was better to stay together rather than try to send someone back to report in. I knew, worse case, that someone would come after us by morning, if we couldn't report in by then."

"Dr. Frasier?" Hammond turned to the Doctor.

"Everyone has recovered from their exposure to the caram flowers," she replied, looking down at the papers in front of her. 

"I need to know if it will be dangerous to send teams there in the future?" Hammond asked.

She shrugged. "We do routinely screen for allergies, and anyone with a life-threatening allergy is rarely placed on a team that goes off world, and is never on a first contact team. Now that we know about the caram flowers, anyone going there should be issued a set of antihistamines to be prepared for exposure to the flowers."

"SG-14 had been to that planet before, when the flowers were not blooming," Matias reported. "We've had no problems and, if we can figure out when the flowers are on bloom, we can take extra precautions at those times."

"The biologists are still conducting their research, but their initial theory is that the flowers actually bloom once every two years," Janet offered. "So the chance of encountering the flowers again is seriously reduced."

"Biennial plants are relatively common here on Earth," Daniel said. "Leeks are a common example. The edible part grows the first year, but the plant re-grows a second year, generates flowers, and then re-seeds itself."

"Thank you, Dr. Jackson," Hammond nodded. "Any further recommendations?"

"I think a flag in the system will do it." Jack looked around the table as the others nodded in agreement. 

"Good work, then!" Hammond smiled.


End file.
